One thing I enjoy very much about getting old is becoming more of an observer, than an actor. Once I got past my own initial panic and full blown cranky crises over the change to dK4, I've returned to that fascinating role, and believe I've read every diary written about how people are thinking and feeling about this huge changeover.
I also tried hard to overcome my not so positive feelings about Kos, so I could hear what he was saying about his vision for DK4. (Face it, Kos will not probably never win an Oscar for being the most sensitive communicator on the planet, so it took some doing!)
In a recent diary where folks were expressing a sense of loss of the community feeling present on DK3, but not so much here, Kos wrote a comment that made a light bulb go on over my head. I think I am finally getting where he's coming from, more than I'd been able to before this. I'll add his comment here, and say a bit more after you read it. From Kos:
I don't understand why people think the way THEY use Daily Kos is the way everyone else does? The site has 1.6 million monthly unique visitors, it has about 300,000 registered users. There are TONS of ways people use the site.And I can say, definitively, that most of you do NOT want to talk politics with each other, because the vast majority of the site's readership never writes a comment. That said, commenting is UP since the changeover, so it's not as if conversations are being stifled. There are just being spread out over more diaries, and over a longer period of time. That's certainly a change in the site's dynamics, but I think it ultimately makes for a healthier site.
Now those "bells and whistles" are allowing people to organize locally, to discuss topics that aren't the flavor of the moment, to expand into new niches and reach new audiences. Conservatives haven't gotten where they are today by sitting around talking politics to each other, but by taking over cultural institutions like the evangelical churches and NASCAR.
We don't build a movement by sitting around chatting with each other. We do it by reaching out and drawing in new people and spreading the word to that wider audience. We make politics fun by building community around shared interests like garden blogging and cats. We become more effective by localizing and even specializing.
But yes, the site has changed, and will continue to evolve into something new and different. And for some, what this site will be won't be to their liking. But as much as I hate to see people go, I also realize that this site can't be all things to everyone. I just hope that wherever they go, they remain politically engaged.
OK. This is clearly a man with a vision that goes far beyond the the forming of community. He doesn't leave the need for community out, or toss it aside as unnecessary, however, and I found myself surprised to be believing him when he said he hates to see people go. But now I can see where in his mind, the community aspect of DK4 is secondary in importance to, and in service of, the larger goal, of expanding the progressive political platform, overall.
If there is to be any hope at all for this country to survive, we have to find ways to make progressive voices a whole lot louder than they are now. It will take every ounce of activist energy we can drum up, and places where that energy can be effectively organized and focused into actions on the ground. It will take creating media outlets and the biggest bullhorns we can create, to reach around the paid off media to reach as many eyes and ears as possible.
Even someone as much of a techno-dunce as I am can see the potential for this new platform to do all of this, and who else knows how much more, in time. There's endless ways activists can find each other, band together, organize and plan concrete actions in the face world that so badly need to happen. If I am reading him right, this is the primary vision for DK4, with the option of forming smaller neighborhood community groups still included in the mix so we can enjoy working together and support each other as we do. I can't help but admire the passion and determination behind this vision, and all the hard work it took to give it birth. And I hope for it's success, sincerely.
Then there's this part: if I am reading this accurately, then what we had on DK3, that sense of tighter knit community that so many people miss, will probably not ever be present the same way here. And that will be experienced by many, as a very real loss.
Not for everyone, of course, but especially for those who spend a lot of time here to whom it has come to feel like an online home: a place like Cheers, where you can walk in and everybody knows your name.
There are those who scoff at this, who say those who end up feeling this way about any website should just "get a real life". Well, that's what it felt like I DID years ago, when I found this site, and real people I could relate to that shared my values. (In real life, I was trapped in an environment of right wing republican religious fanatics, and still am to a large degree, further restricted now by mobility issues.) There's nothing weak or unhealthy about coming to care about a place full of friends who feel just as real as those we can hug in person. There's nothing weak about the fear or anger or sadness some may feel at this huge a change.
Some of us will stay and slowly find new patterns of coming together and continuing relationships we value. Some will move on, seeking this elsewhere. Some will leave just because of not having the time or energy or inclination to stick with the learning curve required. Some will take full advantage of all the tools available here to continue their activism.
I just know that for me, it will be easier now that I am letting go of the expectation that it will ever be the way it once was again. I don't know where, or even if, I will find a neighborhood here where I might feel like I "belong", or if this will continue to be simply mostly a rich source information and wisdom I can casually dip into at will. Time will tell, as it always does.
So! The floor is open for any and all crankiness about DK4 (or anything else, for that matter,) and/or to simply share thoughts and feelings..